Winners Take All: The Elite Charade of Changing the World

Except for a brief note at the end of the book, Giridharadas doesn’t insert his own personal story into Winners Take All. Why do you think he made this choice? How would the book have been different had he written more about himself?

Choose a figure from the book (such as Hilary Cohen, Sean Hinton, or Darren Walker) who had to navigate situations in which their personal values clashed with those of MarketWorld. If you had been in their shoes, what would you have done?

Do you agree with Giridharadas’s characterization of MarketWorld? Does it seem fair and accurate? Or do some aspects seem exaggerated or biased? Use examples from the text to support your argument.

Giridharadas largely relies on telling stories of individuals to critique the world of business and finance; he cites few statistics or datapoints and doesn’t include graphs, tables, or charts. How does this approach serve Giridharadas’s argument? What are its shortcomings?

Race and inequality in the US have a long and intertwined history. While Winners Take All discusses the idea of inequality throughout, it explores race is most directly in the story of Darren Walker in Chapter 6. How does Walker’s story illuminate the connections between race and inequality? Are there other sections in which race emerges as an important topic?

Examine one or more ways in which gender issues intersect with topics of elitism, economics, and related topics in Winners Take All. How does Giridharadas introduce gender issues in these contexts? What aspects of these issues does he highlight? What aspects might his analysis overlook?

Giridharadas implies that elites’ campaigns have been successful in part because of weak government regulations on business and finance. Do you agree with Giridharadas’s view of government’s role? If so, why? If not, how has government played a more active role in reigning in elites’ gains?

Winners Take All focuses on the context of the US, though it discusses the role of globalism extensively. If you’re acquainted with the economics of another nation, compare and contrast the way it and the US have responded to elites’ interest in creating socioeconomic change.